001Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the town of Portland Portland Board of Education podcast. And we are live in the studio with the the men of the hour, okay, our first selectman, Mr. Mike Pelton, and our superintendent of schools, Dr. Britton. Doctor, say good to see you. Hi. How are you feeling? Well, I've been doing better, but we're plugging away anyway after after these long uh budget workshops. I know it's taken its toll on everybody, you know, so anyway. So, uh we we've pretty much where we're going to be. So, who wants to go first? Go ahead. I want to say why don't you give an update on where we were at after these long budget workshops? >> Absolutely. So, so the budget process starts in January and culminates with what we had
002this what happened this week. So, we had to distill all of the budget feedback from Board of Ed, from all the departments, and we had to actually talk about what we're going to get down to. So, uh this week uh after two nights of looking for every dollar we can, we finally came down to the number that um we feel is good for the town. Uh the mill rate we're able to minimize the the mill rate as best we can. Yep. Uh we made sure that every all these central services were covered, um but we did everything we could. So, that'll be that'll be put out there shortly. We'll we'll let everyone know what the numbers are, um but uh but I feel good about what we did at the work we did to get
003down to to a reasonable mill rate increase and a reasonable spending increase that still covers everything. Well, you know, it's the the cost of living is going up, insurance is going up, fuel is go I mean, look what look what we're paying at the pump now. I mean, Inflation is 2 and 1/2%. And that just keeps you even. Yeah, you know, and so forth. So, anyway, but you know, I think you guys have Dr. Britton, you guys have uh put out a very nice flyer. >> Yes. And it looks absolutely gorgeous, and I think uh we're on the right track, so. I hope so. Absolutely. >> Yeah. So, I mean, anybody who's listening to this at your hopefully on a mobile device or electronic somewhere you're accessing the internet, go to our Portland Public Schools
004webpage, and you'll see um all of the information about this is is there on on the website. Over the past 3 weeks, we've had three community forums, and we're planning one more next week. The first one was a tour of Valley View, right? So, uh people came out, I gave a tour of Valley View, and and you know, everybody could see, it's pretty apparent, >> Yep. the condition of the school. So, it's it's it's that school owes us nothing. It's been around for a long time. It's served many many many children, but it is very tired, and you can see the wear and tear on it. Um the second one, we did the same thing at Gildersleeve. You know, people come out, you could see, we actually had it on a rainy day, you could
005see the the buckets in the hall and then the gym collecting the water that's coming through a roof membrane that is beyond its lifespan. Yeah. Um at and then this week, we had one at the secondary school, where the middle school principal talked about um what the value of and how it will work to move sixth grade to the middle school, and it will be great for our sixth graders to be a part of a 6-7-8 school as opposed to a 5-6 school, based on all of the things they're able to access, um athletics, clubs, activities, feeling like a real big kid. I mean, it's going to be great. Um and then I think the most important part of what we've done so far is right after that, I got to talk to the town
006about the costs of this. Yes. >> Right? And to start, I guess I would say that unfortunately, there's no cheap and easy way through. >> These are our expensive problems that you have. Anybody who has ever replaced a roof on their house or windows at their house know that that these things are not not inexpensive. That said though, it is right now I believe imminently affordable. Yeah. Um because there is a enormous amount of state reimbursement that the town would be eligible for. There are significant overhead savings that the are going to be available um by reducing um schools. Mhm. Um and the town is in an interesting position right now because the only debt service that you're managing is for the Route 17 Park and there's lots of bandwidth Yes. >> for the town
007to take on debt now >> Yep. because the secondary school bond has retired. >> Has rolled off, yeah. So, when you factor in overhead savings, massive state reimbursement, and debt service that has retired and created the bandwidth of and then the last one is growth in town. Right, these new developments that you see. Yes. It's like all of the worlds have aligned perfectly in terms of how and why this is now affordable as opposed to times past when there hasn't been the growth, there wasn't the same level of state reimbursement, or the town was managing more debt. 100%. I mean, all these things have come together over the last couple years into a perfect storm of this. So, so I I've thought about this a lot. We've talked about this a great deal. And it
008solves a lot of problems that parents will know if they've had their kids go through the school system already or if they have parents in or kids in the system now. We we've needed to right-size our schools since we did that renovation back in 2004. We overbuilt the middle school high school. There were consequences to that back then and we never sent sixth grade up to that up to the middle school back then, and we should have. So, we have capacity up there to handle that. So, it it solves that problem. And we've always had one extra elementary school during the time, whether we realized it or not, and that cost us at least a million dollars a year to support a third elementary school, which we did not need. So, it solves those two
009problems at a time when there is no better time for us to do that. And I would have said that even a year ago before the state added another 15% reimbursement for for preschool. Um, and when you throw that into it, it makes this project, which again, it's not cheap. It's a $109 million project. Um, yet we're getting most of that back. 66 million back. >> Back, and it's costing the town $42 million, but that $40 million to the $42 million is something that again, we have tailwinds with increased economic development, increased grand list, um, etc., etc. So, we are in a better position to afford it now, and if Charles didn't hammer it home, the need is there. It has been there for a long These are old schools that continue to need more,
010and if we don't do something, and I've had a number of conversations over the last couple days, what's the cost of not doing anything? Well, what we're doing is we're paying 100% of the cost to town to taxpayers in town because the reimbursement isn't there. So, every time we have to fix a roof, it's with or or anything that goes wrong, it's at tax dollars. So, it cost us more in the long run to just try to fix everything up, and you're still fixing up an old building that's 30, 40 years old or longer. Right. And the thing is, we're renovating as new, so it's not just brand new. So. >> brand new standards, safety, efficiency. The heating and cooling systems are better. It's a better atmosphere in there. Um, it improves everything about the
011school and brings us up to the 21st century. >> Yeah. Um, and it's affordable when you look at the numbers. It's 50 cents a day, I think, for the average taxpayer taxpayer in town, um, which um, which I'm proud to say is a for It's still It's still >> Less a cup of coffee. It is. Exactly. As what I would love to hear, right? Uh but it but important though and I think um it's not it's not free. We obviously have to pay something for it, but it's the best possible condition that we are in right now in order to be able to move forward that and get it done. Sure. Yeah, exactly. And that's exactly right. It And you you know, I guess I would just say to anybody if if if you don't
012believe us, like if you're feeling like I don't I don't know if maybe my concern is and I understand I'm asking a lot of people to trust us, right? But I also believe in transparency. So if you want to trust and verify, if you want to look at my numbers Please do. they're all on the website. I've included links in Google Slides presentation. I've you can go to the Department of Administrative websites sites. I've linked to the laws that talk about the pre-K. You know, it's all right there and even if people want to see the giant amortization bonding table They are welcome. You are welcome to look So I I also understand people are very busy and and you know Sure. you you sort of have to trust your officials when they when they
013tell you, but we've poured over these numbers. We've gone back and forth with tax assessors, attorneys, financial planners worked so hard to get this right. And in all of those instances, I know I felt and I believe the tax assessor and bond bonding attorneys and and our financial planners we've all taken the position that hey, if we're wrong, we want to be wrong because we've projected too much money. Like we projected that it's going to be like worst case scenario. >> Right. We haven't we've been we may have been overly conservative because you know, we don't we don't want to be anybody to look at us someday and say hey, you lied to us, right? >> At the end of this, what do what do we want? We want to come in under budget, on
014time, costing less than we projected. >> Yeah. Right? So, we can be heroes. Right. And And literally every number that we looked at and dialed it down to super conservative, the bond rate cost at 4 and 1/2% now is less than we can get. The estimated cost of the projects, we built in plenty of buffers to cover anything. We anticipated, as we build it, the cost of you know, inflation over the years. So, we've Everything we've done has been safe to protect us cuz we'd rather be pleasantly surprised. We We That's the goal. And And now, with that said, the the ask here is May 11th. Yep. Folks, go out and please support this. I mean, I'm I'm If you don't If you weren't able to attend those meetings and and want any confirmation that
015that the schools have deteriorated to the point where we must do this, I encourage anyone, talk to any teacher at Valley View, Gildersleeve, or Brownstone. Yep. And just ask them, Yep. "What's the school like?" Yep. Now, they will tell you, "We love our schools because we have great faculties, wonderful kids, strong administrators, a good culture." But, they will also then start talking to you about how it smells, how it's wet, how it's dank, you know, how about what it feels like to work in very old schools. Yeah. Now, that that said, if if this passes on on May 11th, we will put in our grant application, and then the next step in this is also for us to form what's called a building committee. >> Mhm. And that's where also another group of of smart
016people Mhm. is going to get together, guided by experts, Mhm. and start really then putting out the bids and selecting the architects and the construction companies and and and doing the really exciting and hard work of building new schools. Sure. And I'm very confident that when we start putting out bids, they're going to come in, and we're going to select the lowest ones. >> Sure. Right? Even the bids that we got to build the conceptual budgets, Yeah. they were being conservative. They were saying, you know, a roof costs like we're not going to take the highest one, we're not going to take the lowest one, we're going to go right for the middle. That's what a roof costs. Well, when we start looking at bids, I think those are going to come under. I do
017not think the schools are going to cost as much as in the conceptual budgets we're working because we're being very conservative. So, again, I don't want to I don't want to oversell or overpromise, but Portland, this is doable. You can afford it and you are going to have at the end of this two beautiful, amazing schools for your children to go to school in for another genera- generations to come. Like how exciting. >> And they will be the right size and they will be affordable and the town can afford I have to add something else to that, too. We've had a lot of smart people look at this over the last five years. The two committees, but both of our boards, Board of Selectmen and Board of Education, unanimously supports this project. And the more
018that I've explained it to people, the more that I talk to people that want to know about it, once they get the numbers and once they understand the problem, that I I've gotten very few people that have said, "Well, I'm not sure." or no, because it's it's a very compelling case. And I and and as as the first selectman, I would not support this program if I A didn't think it was affordable, if I didn't think it was needed, if I didn't think it would make a a huge difference for us. So, this is to me a once-in-a-generation opportunity to correct some mistakes and use a lot of state money to get that done. 60 million 66 million dollars, which the by the way, the town pays taxes every year. We all pay taxes to
019the state and federal government. This is that money coming back to the town. If we don't If we don't use that money, it'll be used by another school. And everything that we do is transparent, so it's online, it's available. They can call me, as many people do. They can reach out to Charles. We have all the data across the board. There's nothing There's There's nothing hidden, there's nothing gray. We're not trying to get anything past people is what I heard in the last referendum. Uh plus I think your your point is well taken, Charles. I think, you know, people who are going to be bidding on this thing, I think they're going to want to keep their people working. So, you know, they're they're going to be sharpening their pencils. >> Yeah. And I mean,
020hey, not only that. Like, as I talked to the architects, one of the things I say is is this Some people are going to give you competitive bids because they're going to want both jobs. Yeah, exactly. >> this is a 4-year keep people employed and keep my company going. >> Yes, yes. >> That you know, that you don't get many places. I mean, this is >> Exactly. You give us the right bid on Valley View, you know, you're opening the door to just move your guys right down the road and keep working for 2 years after that. >> Yep, yep. I think when the bids start coming in and the building committee starts selecting vendors for this and construction companies, I think we're all going to be in a really good place. Sure, sure. All
021right. So, now that that being said, let's go over the timeline, okay, as far as, you know, where we're moving the chess pieces. Oh, yeah. And that's the other one. So, next Tuesday, March 31st, if anybody's listening to this, and I'm that's the topic that I'm going to be at the the the the penultimate, the second to last community forum for me is going to be the timeline. And then community um last one is question and answer. Anybody that wants to um get more information about any aspect of this project. But, the timeline is And this is the other part. We are in a very lucky place to save a lot of money because we have swing space and don't have to build portable classroom schools, right? Or I mean, this is the other part
022of the project that's a huge money saver. So, this is how Like, if I could dream this up, Dave. Uh-huh. Referendum passed May 11th, May 12th, we're all feeling good. Yeah. Then um Stephanie Forgione, my business manager, and I are working real hard to write the grant, submit it by June 30th, and then we're going I'm going a couple weeks in the summer to take a breath and and >> Yeah. get ready for a very exciting process. >> Yep. Next year for our kids, nothing will change. Valley View will be pre-K 1, Gildersleeve will be 2 3 4, Brownstone will be 5 6, middle school will be 7 8. Nothing changes next year. Next year in the fall, we're waiting for the Department of Administrative Services to approve our grant. We're having lots of conversations
023with them, design conferences, you know, dialing in the numbers, making sure they're comfortable with the reimbursement rates. We're And then of course, it has to be passed by the legislature and goes on their priority list and it will. This will all go through. >> Yeah. By next Christmas, we will have heard from them. Here's what we are committing to, handshake with the state. We're we're partners now, okay. At that point, we need to form a building committee. And the first bid, the first request for proposals and request for qualifications is for an architecture firm. Mhm. >> Right? Um I can name a few good ones, but we have to put a bid out and select the one that we think is the best quality and the best price. >> Sure. They then will spend next
024spring designing. Concurrent with that next spring, we're going through the budget process again. Mhm. I'm coming in with a very low budget next year because it will be reduced by an awful lot of positions. My suggestion for the Board of Selectmen, Board of Education, the First Selectman will be, don't just cut that. Raise that money, it's it's in your mill right now, and move it to capital. Yep. So if I could take save 900,000 to a million dollars out of the board budget, my suggestion this time next year will be keep that in the mill rate. >> Yep. Put it in capital. For two reasons. One, then it's in capital to do more good works in the town, but also it's there in the future when you need to move it out of capital over
025to debt service, it's your down payment on this project, which makes it even more affordable. Yes. Yes. So, we do all that work next year. We have the architecture working on plans. We're working on budgets. I'm also preparing to close Valleyview. Mhm. Move pre-K to two to Guildersleeve. >> Yeah. Grades three to five to Brownstone, and that's a big project. I got to fix up Brownstone Yeah. to get it ready for grades three, four, and five. And move sixth grade to the middle school. Okay. We'll do that at the start of the 2027-2028 school year. >> Uh-huh. Then we stay in that configuration for two years. Yep. Two school years while guys with hard hats and jackhammers and they do their work on Valleyview. Make this beautiful school, everybody can see. It's on the website.
026Build this beautiful Valleyview for us. At the As soon as Valleyview's done after 2 years, I can't wait. Cut the ribbon. Move pre-K two there from Guildersleeve to Valleyview. Yeah. Then two more years, the guys with the hard hats and ladies with the hard hats do their work. Guildersleeve build us this beautiful new Guildersleeve. And then 2 years after that, cut the ribbon. Move 3-5 from Brownstone to Guildersleeve. Turn the keys over to the town for Brownstone. Yeah. While all of this is going on, building committees are very busy. I'm very busy. Bob's very busy. We're all making sure this is going smoothly, on time, on budget, right? >> I would suggest that over that 5-year period, another committee is working to design a vision for Brownstone. Right now, you've had one committee do that
027already, a land use committee. Certainly that it wouldn't You could even use more time than five because 5 years because you could move park and rec, expand the lease with Oak Hill, um put the um food bank at Brownstone, but you also have 5 years to figure you've got a lot of square footage at Brownstone, and it's a building that also is going to going to need some attention. Sure. Right. But, you you have a good amount of time to like a lot of lead time again to figure out what Portland's going to be. Right. And and that was a big issue with the last referendum. What do we do with Brownstone? And legitimately, it's a concern to a number of people in town. But, we I would invite those folks that are concerned about
028that. We have 5 years to get the details of exactly what we want. And part of the reason why we can't give five different reasons now or five different options. And there's a lot of possibility there. I I agree with everything Charles said. Um we're going to be we're going to be a different town in 5 years with the Nordic Spa having been up and running with Brainard Place having been completed by then. Uh the Main Street is going to be redone over the next 3 to 4 years. So, there's a number of things that'll be done that will make that even more valuable to either a developer that would stay within the confines of what they can or cannot do with that building, or what we do, or or or some kind of hybrid
029version. But, I would invite those that are maybe watching or listening, if they have an interest in this, or if they've come to meetings, and they want to be part of that, uh there'll be a certain amount of people on the committee, but there will be as much input as we need to come up with a great plan. And I am fully committed to making sure that we do that in the right way. I fully value that that building. It stays in town. It's on Main Street. Uh it's a it's a it's such a prize building. We will do something glorious with that building, and and also make it uh net cost to the town. There's a number of ways to do that even now by bumping up, uh you know, Oak Hill and and
030others. So, there's ways we can do it now. It's within sight. We just want to get the best plan to make it make the most sense. >> So, you're you're looking at possibly moving youth services over there and uh the food bank. >> Youth services, food bank, we've looked at those. Those Those were the Parks and Rec. Those were easy ones to change uh to send over there uh should we need to, but the good news is we have 5 years to to work on that and figure that out and see what we need to do. So, uh so I'm I'm feeling very confident um that we can come up with that solution easily, especially with the people in town that are very much uh don't want to lose that building. It's not going to
031be lost. It will be something. It will stay in the town uh and be used for uh a great purpose or purposes. Yeah. Get there. Yeah. I I guess I would just add to and this is where I think Portland should be excited. Also, um there's an old thing, all good things come to those who wait, right? Yes. It This is a process. Port- Portland is very much going through some significant growth, some significant change. I mean, when you factor in Brownstone Place, Nordic Spot, the riverfront, which I know has had the abatement on it and you there's lots of plans being done. I'm starting to look at what is coming out with the plan of um conservation and development. You know, line all those things up with the design of two brand new schools
032>> Yeah. and over the next 5 years, I mean, this this town could be on rocket fuel. Yeah. I mean, it you're you're going to see some some incredibly beautiful things happen to your town that Now, no no doubt that it it is change. It is going to look different. It is going to feel different and some people may not like that. I understand. But, in general, all the arrows are pointed in a direction that I believe could could I mean, you I don't know, Mike. I could you could it's something to be really be excited about. >> It is. It It's It's all happening at once and it's our job to kind of manage and control that, but absolutely. I was just I was just in East Hartford this morning with the mayor from
033there talking about their development and ours and how we could work together and uh he's very familiar with Portland and from his point of view from up the river from us, um he knows about the projects. He knows what's going on in town and he thinks that that's a fantastic area to develop where we're developing right now. And again, that ties into the schools because it makes our school system match what everything else positive's going on in town, so it's very exciting. So, after we, you know, move the youth services in the food bank over there, what what what do you anticipate doing with the the Buck Foreman building? So, there's a couple options right now, and again, it 5 years is a long time, but right now the police they need more space Yeah.
034in order to be to make meet the tier 1, 2, and 3 requirements by the state, so we have some flexibility, but that's a requirement that we need to do to expand that. And there's other uses that we can use the facility for. It could be rented out. There are other and people would love to be on nature. We're we're looking at a house right now right next to that. Yes, and Charles is going to talk about that. >> It might be able to depending on how things go, that So, our transition program, um Let me let me define what transition program is cuz I know there was some some confusion. It's not a halfway house or, you know, rehab facility. There were some confusion. And I think that in some cases the name transition
035program might might be confusing just in terms of other types of things might call themselves transition programs. What we in education call transition programs, these are for Portland students who are ages 18 to 22 years old who are special needs students who we are teaching as much as we can how to live independently. Mhm. So, as part of the law in Connecticut, schools are required to provide education to children from kindergarten through age 22. Okay. And I don't think lots of people know that. For at most people graduate at 18. If you are a regular education student, our responsibilities end when you take your high school diploma at age 18. Yep. If you are a special needs student, um you that you then have if you don't take a diploma, you would stay with the
036the public schools from 18 to 22, and then state agencies or or other groups might Bureau of Rehabilitation Services and other state agencies would would take over. So, what we're looking for on Main Street is a place for our 18 to 22-year-old students who are some cases special needs and lots of people probably see them around town in Adams. They work around town. We're we're going to build a beautiful program there. We have ideas to make a little bookstore with them, a coffee shop, work with the library and the senior center, which is right there. It really is the perfect location. It's right next to the police department. Um but it there's a blue house. I think it used to be a doctor's office, right? >> But what what a great opportunity for us to
037build a community um right there. Yeah. Yeah, awesome. Awesome. And that would be uh from a functionality standpoint, with the local with the Buckman building and the library and the senior center, it's perfect location. >> Perfect. >> And and it's on our Main Street, which is which is our special place. Sure. You know, so Yeah, great. Great. Fantastic. Um okay. Well, I think we got a lot covered. Um Last words would be go vote. >> Yeah, go vote. Yeah, please go get out there. Okay. All right. And and if they have questions, they will be inundated. This flyer will be sent to everyone's home. Yeah. All right. They'll be out there. They may see something in the newspaper, but there are phone numbers, there are QR codes, there are you know, places to go, websites
038to find out more details. So, if you want to know about this, Yeah. um and I think the more you know, the more you will be inclined to vote yes. Okay. Um I encourage you to do that. And if you are in favor of it, tell your neighbors. I'll help educate the folks out there that maybe aren't paying attention. Yes. And one last special message, um the retirees in town um that have been in town, have grown up in town, Mhm. you might be just recently retired. I never retired. Um but but those especially I I I'd like to address this, too. Um every town has issues with their schools and how they're going to pay for it and And And I had my kids go through the system. I have three kids that went
039through the system and now they're out and about. There's newer families with kids in the system. But for those that their kids have gone through and now they're grandmother, grandfather and they're babysitting, doing other things. But you don't have kids in the system anymore. I would encourage you to to still support this because it makes it a better town. It makes the house values improve because you're improving the folks that want to come to town and bring their families to Portland like you did. So like your parents or grandparents did to support you when you were in school, I would encourage you to please consider supporting this program and this and this this referendum because it does make the town better and it saves the town money by reducing a school that we don't need
040because enrollments have gone down over time and and we don't need that many and we don't need to pay that much. But we can have the best education for the kids. It doesn't improve that. It improves it. And it improves it for the taxpayers and again for the cost of some people don't like the air cup of coffee. How about two quarters? It's 50 cents a day is the average homeowner out there. And I know fixed income is tough, but I think that's the best money you will spend to make the town a better place. So I I I encourage you to listen and hopefully vote yes. For sure. >> Thank you. For sure. And now that we okay got that under our belt here. Let's talk about March Madness here. Ah, oh Yukon. But
041before we do that, you're the the high school musical. Oh, the Adams Family. That was fantastic. Unbelievable. They did such a good job. >> Morticia rocked it by the way. Fester, I think Fester. >> was Fester. Yeah, Fester. >> Fester, she stole the show. Pretty much. That was incredible. >> love the moon, you love I would love the moon. I would love the moon. So good, Dave. >> No, I I went to the mad house for a little bit. >> I'm very proud of that. You know, and it just to give for perspective, you know, I mean Portland I mean we we don't have the largest school system in you know, what what what's our total population for you know, K through eight? 12 1200 kids K K K12. K through 12. Yeah, so for
04212 and I would say, you know, out of the kids in the high school there there was probably about 75% participation in that, you know, in one way either set design, cast, tech, whatever, you know, and it was awesome. >> Yeah, I mean my look at my message to Portland is you guys make great kids. Absolutely. And thanks for sending us your kids every day. I don't know I don't know what's in the water around here, but our kids are great. They're they're they're really wonderful children. >> So anyway, okay, that being said, who you picking March Madness? Oh, Yukon, heck yeah. >> Heck yeah, yeah. Mike, I know you're not. Yeah, I I know little about it, but of course Yukon. Of course Yukon. Go Huskies. Well, tonight's well, they're both playing today, right?
043>> Yeah, 5:00 and 8:45 tonight. Okay, so 9:45, it's late. Yukon by 10? Yeah, yeah, I think so. >> by 30, guys by 8. Okay. Well, that's we have to win. By 38, I kind of like that. Girl, the girls there's they're they're a train. They're unstoppable. 30's on the low end. They'll just they'll just romp. The guys by 8. That's what we want. >> well, that's okay. That's okay. As long as the the number is bigger, we're good to go. We're good to go. Put a win in the column, head on and get two state championships and like you said, National championship. National championships and you you it's spoken about that. All those people that that that bought furniture >> at Jordan's Jordan's furniture. I'm going to get that furniture for free if they
044bring it home. Let's go. All right, ladies and gentlemen, that concludes this episode of the Town of Portland podcast with our First Selectman Mr. Mike Pelton and our Superintendent of Schools Dr. Charles Britton. So guys, thanks so much for coming down and enjoy the weekend and everybody get out there and vote. Thank you very much. That is all. I was supposed to be And if you're thinking of me, well don't be worried. Cuz I'm as happy as you are surely soon to see. And I say, come over, come over, come on over you'll say. Yeah, I say come over, come over, come on over you'll say.